


The Saboteurs Garden

by Girlaremo



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: @ cv writers give us Leon Belmonts story, Eventual violence, Flower Languages, I'm coming out of writers block okay, I'm pulling shit out of my ass at this point, Mashed Potatoes, Multi, Non-Canonical, Post Season 3, Sort of a gaiden side story, Suggestive Themes, Wishful Thinking, does anyone read these?, lenore is a goddamn gemini change my mind, no beta we die like men, plus i like to bully trevor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:08:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28500507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girlaremo/pseuds/Girlaremo
Summary: Sleeping Beauty was held in a castle surrounded by rose brambles, and thorns tipped in mire.  A prince saved her and her kingdom from eternal slumber with a kiss.Our prince is lost in a castle covered in vines that seem to be alive; delving into memories and picking out what one may be longing for in their subconscious.Trevor and Sypha return to a castle consumed by flora, and decorated intruders at the front steps.  In the dead of winter, this raises suspicions, and fears that their dear friend may be in danger.  Can they all make it out alive, or will their dreams and longing desires consume them?  And what exactly do their wistful desires reveal?
Kudos: 8





	The Saboteurs Garden

One : Brugmansia

  


Lisa hummed softly as she combed through her son’s hair with her fingertips. Fire crackled in the distance, the popping and snapping of logs in the hearth became comforting noise in the background. Warm blankets pooled around him, moving gently as the sound and sensation slowly woke him. “Shh…” She cooed, gently pressing her palm to his forehead. “Stay still, darling.”   
  
The familiar voice made his eyelids flicker, hazy vision finding a strange wash of color that was similar to… “Mother…?” It hurt to breathe, and he felt so tired...drained of all the energy his body could hold. Yet he felt warm, protected. He could go back to sleep if he wanted to. It would be so easy, wouldn’t it?

  


Listening closer, he could hear the hum of electricity, the soft sound of the lights in the hall, but they were silent between these walls. He knew this place. This was his parents’ room. Well, one of them. His father had his own that he claimed was his, and his mother had one that was a study with a cot, really. But Adrien knew that this place was reserved for when he was young and came down with some sickness his young mind couldn’t fully remember.

  


Lisa looked just as Adrien remembered. Wine-colored day-dress, yet this one had the work apron she favored when making remedies and medicines for the people of the countryside. Age had changed her from the sharp and witty young thing his father described, yet calm had settled into the fine lines around her eyes, and kindness seeped into the smile lines around her mouth. “Hush, I’m here…” Warm hands brushed past warm blankets and pressed against the veins in Adrien’s wrist, Lisa listened quietly as he simply watched in what seemed like relief. “You’re lucky your father and I found you when we did.” Ah, a scolding from mother. This seemed right, didn’t it? “You need to take better care of yourself, darling.” Though she was worried, he could still see the small lines of a smile that pulled at her mouth.

  


What had he been doing that warranted this sort of retort? “I suppose I need to remind myself to eat a little more often…” It was true, he decided—He often neglected to take care of himself when he was delving into a new field of study. Perhaps he was more like his mother in his age, as he heard stories of his father pulling her by the hand to the pantry at least twice a day when she was deep in the library.

  


“Preferably once a day. Dhampir dietary needs are different than humans or vampires, but you still need sustenance. And rest, of course.” Lisa chided, smoothing Adrien’s hair back with that kind, yet knowing smile. “You’re still partially human. And you’re still my sweet baby, too. No matter how old you get.”

  


Adrien could only hide so much of the smile that graced his lips, pulling the blankets back up around him. “I know.”

  


“You stay put and rest. I told your father I’d talk to him once you woke up.” His vision was already getting a little fuzzy around the edges again when she spoke, but he watched as she untied her work apron and dusted the skirt of her dress off. “Sleep well, sweetheart. I’ll be back soon.”

  


He couldn’t keep his eyes open for much longer, but he still felt a kiss to his forehead, and the heaviness of the soft down mattress cradling him. Deeper and deeper, his mind went quiet and thoughts ceased to pass through. Sleep muffled the sounds around him, almost as though hands covered his ears and dulled his senses.

  


_The waking world seemed so far away._

  


.. .. .. ..

  


“I don’t know what I’m looking at.” The bodies on the pikes were bad enough, but to see that they were consumed by some sort of climbing plant...It made things harder to look at. Blue flowers blossomed out of any cavity that had an open way of climbing through. Trumpet shaped and beautiful, there was still an air of rot and decay in the wind. They’d been gone for almost three months, and this is what happened in that time? In theory, it made sense. Dracula himself had been in solitude for a number of years, and the number of pikes he drove into the earth were relative to that...Truly, a math problem nobody wanted to solve.

  


He felt like he was sitting there with his thumb up his ass while Sypha drew closer to inspect the blooms. If there was one thing that Trevor Belmont didn’t know about, it was flowers. Plants were plants, anyways. They came from the earth, and that was that. Some of them looked pretty, others were meant to be left alone. And some _really_ tasted good with some goat stew.

  


“Well, obviously these aren’t normal.” Sypha finally said, keeping her hands clear of the vines that covered the corpses and what looked like most of the castle. “For something to grow and climb so quickly and to climb this far out...” Not to mention, the weather had turned cold—Flowers that bloomed in the late summer shouldn’t be here still.

  


“I’m guessing the same goes for the tulips?” Trevor scoffed, nudging one of the flowers with his foot, nearly decapitating one of the bulbous blooms.

  


“ _Poppies._ ” The magician corrected, picking one of the black blooms from the plant, watching it wither away into dust. “I don’t know who or what brought this here, but I can only imagine that Adrien is somewhere in there.”

  


“I don’t know, maybe he turned his new castle into a garden? Maybe this is him healing from having to stake his father with the bedpost from his childhood bed?” Sypha only glared back at him with a dissatisfied expression while he scratched the back of his head. “What?”

  


“You really need to stop doing that.” She replied lowly, trudging forward through the field of flowers and pulled one of the door latches. It didn’t budge. “Would you stop standing back there with your thumb up your butt and help me?”

  


“Oh, I thought you had it taken care of. Don’t need someone’s opinion or input if they’re wrong.” Trevor sauntered over and put his hands on the door handle and pulled alongside Sypha, watching for any sort of movement. The door moved an inch. Two inches, more and more until it was pried open. The interior looked like a jungle. Peering in, it was as though the forest reclaimed the space and turned it into what it used to be. That is, if the whole forest was made up of Morning Glory vines, Monkshood, and varying shades of poppies. As beautiful as it was, there was something eerie about the overgrowth of plant life. “ _Christ._ ” Nudging the ground brought the superficial roots up a bit, but they seemed to grow back immediately, another bloom popping up just as fast as it was destroyed. “Sypha, I don’t like this.”

  


“I don’t either.” Taking a few steps forward, it seemed as though all the doorways were grown over. The staircase was nearly unrecognizable, and some fixtures were moved out of place. “I’m almost afraid to burn this off.”

  


Looking around, it made sense. This place was probably full of pollen. “This place makes my eyes itch.” Trevor huffed, rubbing his nose. “There’s probably a fuck-ton of pollen in the air. Setting everything on fire...that wouldn’t be a good idea. It’d be like setting fire to free-floating coal dust. The cold doesn’t seem to bother it either.”

  


“Fair point.” Finding a place to investigate or potentially find a way up the stairs and into the living quarters was the best idea. But, there wasn’t much leeway when it came to the vines. “I honestly don’t want to split up. We may be somewhat familiar with the castle, but not like this.”

  


“Right. The moment one of us gets distracted, I’m sure something’s going t—ah... _Achfoo!_ ” Sypha looked visibly unnerved at the sneeze Trevor let loose, lifting his head and adjusting his posture like it was nothing. “What? It made me sneeze. Can I not sneeze anymore?”

  


“You’re going to miserable the whole time we’re in here, aren’t you?” Sypha sighed, waving him along as they crossed the main hall. “If we can cut these away, I’m sure we’ll be able to get in, but we’ll also have to cut our way out as well.” Sypha noted, gesturing to one of the covered doorways. “After you.”

  


Drawing his sword, Trevor grumbled something about being useful, but it fell on deaf ears as he parred away the vines and cut them away until the door was visible, and the plants went lax. “Alright, come on, before they reach out and grab you.”

  


Oh, Trevor should have bit his tongue. Little tendrils were starting to grip at his boots, unsuccessful in stopping him from moving, but unnerving to say the least. Sypha seemed a bit wary as the greenery regrew after Trevor passed the threshold into the East wing. “This is going to take a while, isn’t it?”

  


Perhaps they didn’t know this place as well as they thought. With everything being indistinguishable and overgrown, it was harder to identify where things were, or where landmark locations in the castle happened to be.

  


“I really hope Adrien’s safe.” As if the two potential assassins were bad enough, now he had an ill kept greenhouse on his property. “And the library. I’d be upset if any books were lost.”

  


“Of course you would be.” Dragging his sword along one of the walls, Trevor watched as the greenery withered and came back slowly, wiggling and warbling like they were trying to find the sun. It was like watching worms come up out of the ground when he and his brothers used to go searching for fishing bait. ...Except worm grunting was actually a lot less creepy and didn’t involve saving dhampirs from the greenhouse from hell. “Hey, I really think that we should consider staying a bit closer toge--” Looking back up...Sypha was gone. “Really now? Come on, I’m not in the mood for games. Sypha?”

  


“Trevor?” _That wasn’t Sypha._ Whipping around with his sword—no, it was gone? Looking at his empty hands, he patted himself down for anything. Knives, daggers, whip? Where was the whip? Vampire Killer was missing, as was the Morning Star. “ _Trevor_.”

  


Suddenly, verything around him was different. Stone walls, smooth wooden floors with knotted patterns and lanterns along the walls. It was as though the vines had retreated back out the windows and into the earth like they had never been there in the first place. He knew where this was, but his mind couldn’t comprehend _why_ he was here.  
  
His blood ran cold when he saw her. Dusty blond hair pulled back into a tight bun, hunting clothes that looked similar to his own...though, they hung different on her than they did him. Age had made lines form along her eyes and mouth, yet there was still that sharp look in her eyes. He’d know it anywhere—he had the same eyes. “Mother?” Looking down, there sat the Vampire Killer on her hip, just like he remembered. “You...The house, I watched it bu--”

  


“Treff,you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She walked closer, and he backpedaled along with her. This only brought concern over her face, tilting her head and quirking a brow. “You’re looking at me like I’m a changeling. Or maybe you are, with the way you’re acting. Do you really want me to do the iron test on you, boy?” Her fussing was always insufferable. When it came to bruises and cuts, she was fine. But when someone was acting off, it was dire that she check them out. There wasn’t any sort of personal space when it came to sick children—Even if they were grown and ready to leave the house on their own. One hand rested on Trevor’s cheek, and the other on his shoulder as she checked him over. Of course, the wedding ring on her left hand was warm to the touch, and unsurprisingly, it didn’t burn his skin. “Not a changeling after all, hm?” Was she always this tall? Just about as tall as he, sure.

  


Christ, this felt so real. He flinched as she patted his cheek a couple times, trying to get his attention. Which, he gave fully. “How is this possible?”

  


“I think you were sleepwalking. You used to do that when you were little, Treff.” Satisfied knowing that her boy was in the right mind again, she released him from her grasp and chuckled. “Can’t be because you’re getting married tomorrow, right?”

  


If he were drinking something like ale, he’d do a spit-take and spill his stein. “I’m _what?_ ”

  


“My god, you look like you just woke up and forgot your own wedding. How the hell does she deal with your daftness?” The woman chuckled, waving him along once again. Dumbfounded, Trevor followed nearby, keeping his eyes out for anything that may be amiss. Sonia checked over her shoulder as well—a habit from years of hunting. Everyone in the family seemed to do that, Trevor noted.

  


Turning the corner to a wide wooden staircase, Trevor looked around with his jaw nearly on the floor. This _was_ his home. The stately manor with stone tiles decorating the walls, different mounted animals that were hung above one of the many fireplaces that filled the place wall to wall with warmth. The thing that made him weak was that there were people. His _family_ gathered in one place. The moment they all saw him, they _cheered._ “Andrei! Your son forgot he’s getting married! I found him wandering the halls!”

  


“You’re the one who brought him into this world, Sonia. I don’t know why you’re blaming me for this.” Another man with dark hair and a square jaw welcomed Sonia into his arms. “Must have been tired from sneaking around last night. Someone said they saw you sneaking into your lady’s room last night.” He winked, giving that sort of half smile he remembered.

  


“I remember what _we_ did when I dragged you to the altar.” Sonia snorted, rolling her eyes.   
  
“Yeah, you dragged me by the hair like a _brute_.” This was the familiar banter that he grew up with. Sonia Belmont, heiress of the Belmont Estate and the Vampire Killer whip. She managed the house and the extended family all lived here, too. Well, anyone who wanted to stay in the family and hunt monsters, of course. To the church’s standards, this place may as well be a brothel that just happened to kill monsters. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, son. Are you feeling unwell?”  
  
“N-No, I’m fine, I just…” Descending the stairs, this all felt like he woke up from a nightmare. He was home, with his family. There was no fire, there was no raid by the church...Everything was all here. Stopping between his parents, he wrapped his arms around both of them and hugged tightly. “I had an awful nightmare.”

  


“What’d I tell you? Pre-wedding jitters.” Sonia said quietly, rubbing circles into Trevor’s back. “Now come on, I want to make sure that everything fits for tomorrow. I won’t be able to fuss over my boy for much longer.”

  


Deja vu hit him as he was suddenly following Sonia once again. Something was wrong. Everything around him was quiet. For a house where nobody was ever alone, he felt like the halls were barren. There were things that blurred a bit as he walked, and the hall seemed to go on forever. _Something was wrong._ “Here we are.” Looking back to his mother once again, Trevor’s breath caught in his chest as she vanished from sight.   
  
“What in…” A previously bare wall held a single door between the grey bricks held together by Roman concrete and limestone that seemed to hold time itself within it. This wasn’t a door he remembered. This was new. Taking a hold of the handle, he turned the lock mechanism and slowly opened the door. It smelled...Sweet. Like a wildflower garden had been contained in one concentrated space. Like sitting at a wake with a bunch of flowers slowly dying in a room full of sullen people.

  


Adrenaline rushed through his veins, and his heartbeat grew faster as he saw someone, no _something_ in the room. This wasn’t human, just like the people who had gathered in the front hall. Not the younger faces of his cousins—which, if they were his age when the Belmont Estate burned, they should be older. His mother should look older, his father more grey. His mother should have been a bit more aged as well, blond hair growing finer and lighter in time.

  


To add to the situation, he was staring at the back of a stranger sitting in front of a vanity. Bright red firey hair, and a rather elegant gown that was as deep blue as the night sky. It was fit for a princess—something higher than a knight’s status could ever afford. Staring at the mirror, he could see himself, but he could not see her in the reflection. Even as she pressed rose pigment to her lips and cheeks, the only thing visible was the small clay pot that she held.   
  
“I suppose having the family back was a bit too ambitious, wasn’t it?” The figure sighed, putting the little container down on the vanity as she turned around and faced him. Her expression was sickeningly sweet—face round and kind. Even if she looked sweet and innocent, Trevor knew not to trust her. “Your deepest desire is to go home, yet everyone is gone. You wouldn’t know what they would look like in the present.”

  


“What the hell did you do to Dracula’s Castle?” Trevor spat. The air grew heavy and still. He could hear a pin drop, it was so quiet. The woman at the vanity merely dusted herself off and rose to her feet, a calm smile on her lips as she smiled widely with pearly, sharp teeth. Teeth that seemed to grow sharper and brighter as she drew closer to him. “Where is Adrien Tepes?”

  


“He’s being tended to so that my sisters and I can attain our goals. I hadn’t expected you or your companion to arrive and ruin everything...much less figure out what was going on.” She nearly purred, reaching up to place a hand on either side of his face. Trevor couldn’t move. He was stuck, trembling and fighting to do _something._ “It’s a shame, really. Your family was so charming. You didn’t turn out half as bad either.” She narrowed her eyes and rubbed a thumb over his lips, yet Trevor could do nothing but tremble. “You would have been a stark contrast to my little pet forgemaster. Imagine that; a Belmont on a leash!”

  


Trevor could feel himself fading, his eyelids felt so heavy and his body was growing numb. Fingers first, then his palms, his forearms, toes, shins and knees. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t hardly breathe. And his nose itched.

  


“It’s a shame you’re going to waste away like th--” _Ha-PEWH!_

  


The dream was suddenly gone, and Trevor found himself slouched against the wall, tangled in a mass of vines. He was upright in a flash, as though his ass had caught fire. He slapped his cheeks and shook his head, trying to erase the longing visions that he’d seen. Everything he’d seen was a lie. Everything he heard was a lie. His family was still gone, the estate was still ash and rubble. He was still alone, save for— “Sypha?” He called loudly, turning round to see if he could find a Sypha-shaped mass anywhere. “Sypha!” Running down the hall and to another wide room, there was no sign of her. Only warped vines and other flowers that had grown larger than their normal counterpart.

  


Wherever she was, she probably couldn’t hear him, regardless. If she were in the same situation as he was in, there was no chance that she could even pick his voice out of the deafening silence of the castle. He had to find Sypha fast. He had to make sure she didn’t fall for this illusion like he did.

  


Alucard was most likely in the same situation. What motives did that strange woman and her ‘sisters’ have? Why go after Alucard when he wasn’t involved with any of them? Or was he? Maybe he’d have to hallucinate again to give that woman a piece of his mind, perhaps a good lashing for thinking that _he_ would be on the other end of a leash.

  


“God...Thank you for allergies, I guess.”


End file.
